On 9/24/16, rhkra...@gmail.com <rhkra...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Saturday, September 24, 2016 09:26:36 AM Cindy-Sue Causey wrote: >> Good morning! Just a heads up that upgrading the following two >> packages attempts to remove 141 unrelated packages in Sid/Unstable >> this morning: > >> Just sharing because I was in a hurry and almost let it happen. I >> don't want anyone else to accidentally do the same. For newcomers, >> *always* protect yourself by making sure you backup your current state >> before upgrading, specifically for days like today. > > For my own education, I'm not sure what you mean by "backup your current > state > before upgrading"--does that mean a full backup of your system, or is there > a > way to somehow save the current "state" of the package list on your system > so > that you can easily request those packages be restored if something goes > wrong?
I don't always express myself in the best of ways. It just means get into the very regular habit of backing up *EVERYTHING* in such a way that, should things ever fail (AND THEY DO), five minutes and a new hard drive later (for example), you're already back in action. I write that regularly because both my cognitive [disability] and financial situation are such that backups didn't/don't occur as they should. Don't to do what I do. Protect yourself as best you can by backing up everything that's important very regularly. How to do so is a personal *_CHOICE_* each user makes. I use rsync but have seen others have reasonable objections as to why they don't and why they use other programs successfully. Searching the Debian-User email archives is one route to go to see what others prefer. On searching the email archives, there are a couple of us who have experienced a glitch where we don't get good results by searching directly through the Debian website. My favored alternative is to search Debian's archives via a search engine. I enter pertinent keywords, e.g. "backup", then additionally something like "lists.debian.org" or "debian-user" into that search engine's query. Depending on what I need, I'll alternatively type in "wiki.debian.org" instead. Cindy :) -- Cindy-Sue Causey Talking Rock, Pickens County, Georgia, USA * runs with duct tape *
